The Obvious Truth
by sallythedestroyerofworlds23
Summary: A series of unrelated oneshots featuring random days in Ichigo and Rukia's life,where their relationship is observed by other characters. Chapter 3:Ishida
1. Orihime

Ichigo, Rukia, Uryu, Orihime and Chad walked together in the same general direction away from school as usual. It went as usual: Ichigo alternating between arguing with Rukia and arguing with Uryu, Orihime happily chattering about her latest food concotions, and Chad being… Chad.

It wasn't until they noticed the crowd beginning to gather, some kids running past them to get to the queue, that the five friends snapped out of their respective little worlds. The crowd was gathered around a store on the sidewalk, and the friends stood on their toes to try and see which store was causing the commotion.

"Ichigo, what's over there?" Rukia asked, finally giving up on jumping higher than the people's heads.

Ichigo was opening his mouth to answer, but stopped and sneered. "What's the matter? You too short to see?"

A knee to the gut wiped the smirk off his face. After muttering something about 'violent midgets', he said, "It's that new ice cream shop Keigo and Mizuiro had been talking about. I think it opens today."

Rukia's eyes lit up. He was pretty sure he knew why, and he was about to immediately inform her that no one was going to that store today, when a cheerful voice cut him off.

"Oh! We should go try some!" Orihime waved her arms cheerfully. "I hear the ice cream there is really good!" she clapped her hands excitedly.

"That sounds great, Inoue!" Rukia was quick to agree, and Ichigo took the chance to jump in.

"What are _you_ talking about? You're not going anywhere." He stated. He was the man, and he would be obeyed.

He should have known better.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?! I'm having some ice cream! Come on, Inoue. This idiot is obviously too good for ice cream and will be staying behind-" She had started walking away, pulling Orihime by the wrist, about to prance into the shop, when she felt Ichigo's rough hand pull her by the arm.

"For starters, you can't just walk in there. The store just opened today and you have to wait _in line_ to get in. Secondly, I'm not going to stand under the hot sun for hours just for some stupid ice cream. We're going home."

Orihime, who had been watching silently until now, flinched a little when she heard Ichigo say '_We're going home'_ so easily. Like it was only natural that Rukia went to his house with him. No, that was wrong, the way he said it, it was _their _house.

"Oh come on! You never do anything for fun, it's not healthy, Ichigo." Rukia started, shoving him away. "It won't kill you to wait in line a little while."

Orihime wondered at how, despite their objections to what the other wanted, neither suggested even once to split up. It was the logical thing, both could do what they wanted, but they didn't even seem to consider that option.

She heard Uryu sigh as the two continued to fight. "Those two never change."

Orihime looked at him, just as he fixed his glasses. She waited for him to go on, but he just shook his head. "Sorry, Inoue-san, I can't stay, I have some things to go over at my house. See you tomorrow." He offered her a rare smile, and she smiled back and waved. "Bye, Ishida-kun!"

"I guess I'll get going too." Chad spoke not a second after Uryu left. "Goodbye, Inoue."

"Oh, goodbye Sado-kun." Orihime said as her other friend disappeared.

Rukia and Ichigo were still too engrossed in their argument to notice much. Orihime wondered if she should leave when she heard, "Fine! You win, let's just get the stupid ice cream." Ichigo crossed his arms and scowled, unhappily moving to get in the long line that spilled down the street to get into the shop.

Rukia stood at his side and smirked smugly for a moment before turning to Orihime. "Come on, Inoue." she smiled, Orihime went over a bit hesitantly, not sure if she would be a third wheel now that Ishida and Chad were gone.

The three of them stood in line: Rukia grinning excitedly, Ichigo scowling, and Orihime feeling slightly awkward. The silence made her anxious, though the other two seemed to be perfectly at ease. She looked around for something to focus on, and somehow ended up looking at Ichigo.

The afternoon summer breeze blew gently by and ruffled his orange spikes, and the sun's bright rays shined on his face. Orihime watched in awe of the beautiful sight. Ichigo was not your typical boy, he never had been, with his orange hair and big attitude… He had always reminded Orihime of the Sun. Radiating warmth and strength. Always ready to protect.

Maybe that was why she loved him.

She didn't know. It didn't matter at this point. She knew she was too far gone to forget her feelings, she had already acknowledged them to herself, she had even confessed to a sleeping Ichigo… But could she tell him now? While he was awake, conscious? She wanted to know how he felt, but still, she was afraid. A few months ago she would have had no doubts that he felt nothing special for her, but then when she was kidnapped a little while ago, and taken to Hueco Mundo, Ichigo had gone after her. He had risked his life to save her, it made her wonder… Perhaps she did have a chance after all.

"We're almost to the front!" Rukia grinned, now that they were finally inside the shop, after a good amount of time outside.

"Don't look so excited. We've been in line for almost an hour." Ichigo said, irritated.

"Don't be so grumpy. It'll be worth it." Rukia replied.

"Che. How would you know? You've never even tasted it. You know we could have just stopped at the market on our way home and bought some regular ice cream. No stupid lines."

"But this gonna be better. Besides, the line wasn't _that _bad."

Ichigo's retort was lost as they were finally called to the front.

"What will you be having, Sir?" A cheerful girl that somewhat reminded him of Orihime asked from behind the counter.

"Umm, vanilla for me." He said, not really caring much for any flavor.

"And your friend?" she asked, looking at Rukia, who barely reached over the counter and was currently staring at the menu with wide, sparkly eyes.

"Oi, Rukia, what do you want?"

She thought about it for the longest minute. Ichigo narrowed his eyes at her. "_Today._"

"Alright, alright, don't rush me! Strawberry."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Nothing! I just said I wanted strawberry!"

"…Oh."

The counter girl, who had been listening the whole time nodded, trying to keep her smile in place. "One strawberry and one vanilla-"

"Wait a second, Inoue?" Ichigo looked back to see Inoue had stayed back in line, waiting for him and Rukia.

"Huh?" She looked bewildered when he called her.

"What flavor do you want?" he asked, already fishing around in his wallet.

Orihime stared for a second, then understanding came and she started shaking around her hands wildly. "Oh no thanks, Kurosaki-kun! That's alright! I brought my own money! You don't have to-"

"Don't worry about it." he caught her off. "I'm already getting Rukia's and _she_ doesn't feel any guilt mooching off my money." he looked pointedly at said girl, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

Before things could get ugly, Orihime spoke again. "Oh, if it's alright then, I guess I'll have… Chocolate Bean Pistachio."

Ichigo disguised his disgust and ordered the thing, wondering if they even had such a flavor. Apparently, they did.

A minute later the three were making their way through the tightly packed ice cream shop, until they found an empty book in the furthest corner of the place.

Ichigo slid in after Rukia on one side, Orihime in the other.

"This is great!" Rukia exclaimed, happily taking more spoonfuls of her ice cream.

Ichigo unenthusiastically dug into his own ice cream, eyeing Rukia out of the corner of his eye. "You shouldn't eat so fast. You'll get a brain freeze." he said in a bored manner.

Rukia completely ignored him and said, "Yours looks good too, can I have some?" Even as she said this, she started reaching over with her spoon towards his vanilla, only to have the bowl snatched out of the way quickly.

"Hey! No way! You already have your own!" Ichigo shouted.

"But yours looks good, I want some!"

"You should have thought of that before then, shouldn't you?" they continued throwing arguments at each other as Ichigo turned, holding his ice cream bowl and shielding it with his back, while fending off Rukia, who was practically standing in her seat by now, with his arm.

Orihime watched, transfixed by how easily they could turn anything into an argument, but how neither of them ever seemed truly angry. Just the opposite actually…

The battle was stopped by a beeping sound. Rukia slumped back into a normal sitting position and took out her cell phone, chappy charm dangling.

"A hollow." she informed, her tone serious now.

Ichigo started to reach into his pocket, presumably for his Soul Reaper batch, but was stopped by Rukia's hand on his.

He looked back at her and their eyes met.

"I'll go." Rukia said firmly. "You don't have Kon and we don't wanna deal with your body lying around dead again." She smirked as she said this, but Ichigo only scowled deeper.

"Rukia…"

Rukia sighed, squeezing his wrist with her hand ever so slightly before saying, "It's just an ordinary hollow. I can deal with it." she assured him.

Ichigo still looked doubtful, but he nodded slightly, and Rukia took off, leaving her uneaten strawberry ice cream.

"She'll be alright, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime spoke up, feeling the need to try and make Ichigo feel better. "Kuchiki-san is strong. A hollow can't beat her."

Ichigo looked at Orihime, startled at first, then he slowly smiled. "Yeah, you're right." he then started eating his ice cream again. Orihime followed suit.

"How are you liking yours?" he asked casually, but it still caused Orihime to blush slightly.

"Oh, it's really yummy! Although, I usually prefer to add some red bean paste to kick the flavor a little bit, and-" she trailed off, talking about her food while Ichigo listened, glad for the distraction. He hated just sitting and waiting to feel Rukia's spiritual pressure; when it spiked at the beginning of a fight, how it pulsated strongly during the rest of it, bursting once with her final attack… He always feared to feel it wither away as it once had. He'd never forget that time in Hueco Mundo, when he felt her very life slip by…

"Thanks, Inoue." he said suddenly, gently.

Orihime stopped short in her animated story, blinking a few times. The color rose in her cheeks and she looked away for a moment. "Eh…Emm, you're welcome, Kurosaki-kun."

There was a brief silence after that, Ichigo smiled at her, and she gradually smiled back.

_It was now or never._ Orihime thought, she didn't know when- if- she would get another opportunity to be alone with him like this.

"Umm, Ku-Kurosaki-kun…" she started, not able to meet his eyes. Ichigo looked at her, vague interest in his brown eyes.

Their ice cream melted as they waited for her to speak.

"Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you… About-"

Sensing her hesitation, Ichigo said, "Well you can tell me, Inoue. What is it?"

Orihime felt her ears grow hot as she searched for the right words. Nothing came to her, and as she inwardly fought with herself, she ended up blurting out,

"_I love you!"_

Ichigo blinked once.

Twice.

His mouth was slightly open in shock, and all he could do was stare.

Orihime's hands quickly flew to her mouth. "I'm s-so-so sorry, Kurosaki-kun! I-I didn't mean to say that out loud." she frantically apologized, feeling stupid for having just yelled it out like that. And feeling even worse when he didn't say anything.

"Please say something." she pleaded in a small voice, looking away from him.

"…I-Inoue… I-"

Ichigo and Orihime both jumped out of their seats as they instantly felt a tremendous spike in spiritual pressure. It was that of a hollow's, but it was tremendously strong! Not a second after, they both felt Rukia's spiritual pressure spike intensely.

There was a single, frozen moment when Ichigo met Orihime's eyes.

"Inoue, can we…?"

She nodded once. "Go."

He ran off.

***

Ichigo arrived to see a huge hollow, with it's mask half ripped off, standing big and menacing in the middle of a now ruined street. A crowd of people gathered but kept their distance, not able to see anything but sensing something was wrong.

"Rukia!" Ichigo shouted at once, seeing her, with her released Sode no Shirayuki in one hand, looking pretty battered up.

"Ichigo!" she yelled back upon seeing him, the hollow then started to swing it's spiked tail at her, and she blocked just in time.

Ichigo flash-stepped to her side and took a swing with Zangetsu at the mighty thing.

"Ichigo, be careful. That hollow is halfway done becoming an arrancar. It's very strong." Rukia warned, as they took a fighting stance together.

"Che. Nothing we can't handle."

Rukia's lips curved into a smile, just before the hollow-arrancar swung it's fist down at them. They jumped in opposite directions, dodging the attack.

"I thought I'd told you to stay back." Rukia shouted over as she took a swing of her sword, missing the beast's arm by a split second.

"I thought you'd said you could handle it. You're all battered up." his tone was half smug, half reprimanding and concerned.

He jumped just in time as the monster attacked again. Damn it was fast!

He started lifting his sword for another attack, when he heard, "Ichigo! Look out!" He turned and blocked a powerful kick just in time. With one mighty swing, Ichigo released a crescent shaped wave of blue energy from the edge of his sword, straight at the hollow's head.

He panted, then looked up to find Rukia standing just a little further. She smiled at him and he started to smile back, but his face contorted in horror as he screamed, "_RUKIA!"_

She spun around, but it was too late. The hollow-arrancar's hand had turned into one huge spike, and it had just run Rukia through with it.

Furious, Ichigo charged at the hollow, this time making sure it was more than dead.

"Rukia!" he shouted, running over to where she lied in a red puddle.

***

Orihime concentrated on her work. Luckily, she had already been on her way to where the fight took place, so she arrived in time to help Rukia.

She had not forgotten her conversation with Ichigo before the hollow trouble… But she didn't bring it up.

She didn't intend to.

Firstly, because she could see the way Ichigo was looking at Rukia through her golden shield. She'd seen that look before. Talking to him now would be useless.

Secondly, it didn't matter. Because in that moment, when time seemed to stop, just before Ichigo ran off to help Rukia, she saw his eyes. They were apologizing. He was sorry. He was sorry he couldn't return her feelings. He was sorry he didn't love her.

Orihime wanted to laugh bitterly.

How had she fooled herself into thinking that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance? A chance he had fallen for her, as she had, for him. She felt so silly. She'd seen first hand the way he treated Rukia, the way they were with each other. Only a fool wouldn't have seen it. What a fool she had been.

Looking at him now, she saw her feelings mirrored in his eyes. His eyes spoke of pure, undying love. Concerned, loving eyes. Oh how she wished they were looking at her!

But she knew who they gazed at. She knew who the object of his affections was.

The raven-haired girl asleep on the ground.

Once Orihime was finished, Rukia started to tiredly open her eyes. She started to sit up, and then a strong arm was helping her, putting her own hand around his neck, and his hand aroung her back. He picked her up in his arms.

"…Ichigo?" she said quietly.

"Shut up. Get some rest, we're going home."

Rukia didn't argue this time. Instead, she let her eyelids flutter shut and she rested her head against his warm chest.

Orihime saw it now.

She was the Moon.

If Ichigo was the Sun, then Rukia was the Moon.

There was no room for her, no matter how much she wished otherwise.

**-*-*-*-**

**I feel bad for Orihime here, but it can't be helped! I think I might do a sequel for this, maybe turn it into a series of oneshots, what do you think? Let me now okay : ) I'm feeling inspired, I might even give Orihime some *cough* Uryu *cough* shoulder to cry on^^**

**Hope you enjoyed! IchiRuki forever!!!! **


	2. Isshin

~Chapter Two of my collection of oneshots is finally here. Warning, each oneshot is unrelated to the other, this is NOT a multichapter fic.

RAIN

Rukia tossed and turned for the umpteenth time in her makeshift closet bed in Ichigo's room. She lay still for exactly three seconds, then she turned once more to lay on her other side, settling on a fetal position.

Thunder erupted loudly and a small whimper escaped her lips.

Rukia was dreaming. But stormy nights like this could only bring on dreams of painful memories.

_Violet eyes snapped open at the sound of thunder, accompanied by the momentarily blinding light of nearby lightning. Rukia lied on her side, curled up against the wall of someone's house, trying to gain at least some protection from the rain under the edge of its roof. She was still getting wet in the freezing rain._

_The small girl shivered and covered her ears as more thunder sounded. It was nights like this that she truly felt how alone she was. It was then that she heard a sound other than the rain falling and the thunder. It sounded like hurried footsteps- running. Someone was running and was coming this way._

_Finally giving up on sleep, the girl sits up curiously and tries to listen harder. Whoever it was is getting closer. She starts to stand up, walking away from the slight protection of the roof edge, and moves over to the main street. She was getting soaked, but it didn't matter, because she saw who was coming._

_It was a boy, not much older than herself, with red hair that stood out even in the darkness of the night. Somehow she knew the boy's name and called out to him: "Renji!" _

_He didn't stop running. He was holding a heavy-looking vase in his arms- water probably, something that was hard to come by when you were a street kid living on the streets of Inuzuri-. He looked like he was running from someone, but as he passed by her, he shot her a sideways glance and called after him: "Come on, Rukia! What are you waiting for?" _

_She didn't need to be told twice; she began running after the boy. She never asked where they were going, she just followed him through the incessant rain. The boy named Renji then turned a corner, making her loose sight of him momentarily. She turned the same corner soon after and found herself in a lone alley, were the rain had somehow stopped completely, along with the thunder and lightning. _

_Renji was nowhere to be seen. "Renji!" she called out, seizing her run to begin a slow, unsure walk down the alley. "Renji this isn't funny!" Suddenly she realized her voice sounded different in her own ears. It was less childish now, the voice of a grown-up. Looking down, she saw that she herself had grown, no longer a child. Even stranger, when she looked down at herself she found that her clothes were different. No longer was she wearing the ragged filthy dress, but instead she wore black clothing. A uniform of sorts. There was a sword hanging from her hip. And despite having been pelted and soaked through by rain just moments before, Rukia was now completely dry._

_Ignoring all this, she called again. "Renji!" She then thought she saw a flash of red hair passing by at the end of the alley. "Renji!" she shouted and ran after it. A moment later she was out of the dark alley, but it had led her to what looked like a forest. It had an eerie air in the night. "R-Renji…" she called nervously, this place for some reason sent a chill down her spine. Her right hand unconsciously moved to her sword._

"_Renji?" a voice behind her asked suddenly. It made her eyes widen with unreasonable horror. "I don't know anyone by that name. Hehehehe!" she slowly turned around and faced the familiar face of her lieutenant and mentor: Kaien._

"_Kaien-dono?" He looked at her with his aqua eyes. "Who else? So how ya' been, Kuchiki?" he put his hand on her head in a playful manner. But something was odd. "Hey, Kuchiki, what's wrong?" he asked, concern momentarily lining his face and voice. But then his mouth split into a huge, crazy grin and his voice morphed into something from a nightmare. "Cat got your tongue?" just as he said it, his eyes turned crazy, his face a sickly green color, and his tongue hung out of his mouth and he licked his lips hungrily. "HEHEHEHE!"_

_Rukia sprinted into a run. Tripping over fallen branches and stones and all sorts of obstacles found in a forest. Her vision was blurred by tears which she couldn't hold back, and sudden thunder erupted, freezing her in place as she watched in horror, the hollow-possessed Kaien jump at her._

_She wasn't even aware of her movements, but the next thin she knew, her sword was in her hands, impaling the body of her once tutor._

"_K-Kaien-dono?" she trembled as his blood soaked her hands. His body fell against hers, and she could see his face turn back to normal, his eyes that soothing aqua color again. She felt him put his hand on her back, and he struggled to speak. She couldn't move._

_Rain started falling just as Kaien started to speak. "…Rukia…" She heard him say, but it wasn't his voice. It was a voice vaguely familiar to her. "Ru-Rukia…" he struggled through the pain of her sword. When Rukia looked at him-really looked at him- she was shocked to see his eyes were no longer aqua. They were brown. A warm brown that soothed her very soul. _

"_Rukia." the name slipped his lips with such familiarity and emotion that Rukia could finally place his voice. In that moment, she noticed his hair had also changed- it was now spiky and startlingly orange._

_If it was possible, her heart sank further. Her knees gave way and she could no longer support his weight or her own. The last thing she saw was him smiling weakly at her, his brown eyes loosing their life, his blood covering her._

"_ICHIGO!" _

Rukia let out the heart-broken wail echo through the entire Kurosaki household.

Less than a second later, Ichigo had sprung to his feet and practically ripped the sliding door to his closet open, to find the raven-haired girl that slept there sitting up, sweat rolling down the side of her paler-than-usual face, her small hands tightly gripping the edge of her blanket, and her violet eyes wide and fearful.

"Rukia, what's wrong?" he asked frantically, looking for any signs that she was hurt. She didn't respond. "_Rukia!_" he called again, and she finally snapped into attention.

Her breathing was labored, it looked almost like she was about to start hyperventilating. But after looking at him, his orange hair tousled from bed, his eyes filled with concern, she seemed to calm down.

"Just a bad dream, Ichigo. Sorry for waking you up." the Shinigami apologized uncharacteristically. She then started to lie back down as if going back to sleep. Ichigo knew her too well that she wasn't going to sleep now.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, quite unexpectedly for him.

Rukia turned around in her bed to look at him surprised.

"What?" he asked scowling now. "Can't I be sensitive every once in a while?"

Rukia laughed in response. "I didn't know you had enough brainpower in that thick head of yours to be _sensitive._" she joked.

Ichigo glared, though deep down he was glad that she at least was okay enough to tease him. "Well?" he asked, all sensitiveness gone from his voice, but the intention was still there. And Rukia knew it too. She sighed and shook her head lightly, sitting back up to face him better. "I'll tell you in the morning. You must be tired, go back to sleep."

Ichigo shrugged. "You can tell me now. I wasn't sleeping anyway." he said truthfully. Rainy nights like this always put him on edge.

Rukia looked at him for a moment, deciding if he was telling the truth and finally nodded once. "Okay, but, can we go downstairs or something?" she asked.

Ichigo shrugged and said, "Whatever." as she jumped from her bed and they both left the room. Ichigo was glad his dad and sisters were out on vacation this week, the reason Rukia could get away with sleeping in his closet. Otherwise, everyone would have been woken up with her scream for sure.

Ichigo followed Rukia down the stairs and unto the living room, where she fished for the remote and turned on the TV, keeping its volume down to background noise. Together, they settled next to each other on the couch.

He waited for Rukia to begin the conversation, she had, afterall, been the one who wanted to come down here, but she just sat there, clicking the remote changing channels, obviously not really paying attention to anything at all. After almost a minute of waiting, he said "Oi, I didn't come down here to watch you stare at the TV all night. Start talking." he ordered in what he believed was an authoritative manner.

All he got for that was a glare and a cushion to the face. "Hey!" he exclaimed, grabbing the cushion, about to throw it back at her, but he paused, hand raised to throw the cushion, when he saw her face.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked lowering the cushion back to its respective place, his voice completely switched over to undisguised concern. "Rukia," he said softly. Her eyes were shimmering with what looked like unshed tears.

She'd said she had a nightmare, but was it so bad it was almost making her cry?

He didn't ask, deciding not to push her. As much as he wanted to help her, he knew he needed to give her space, the same way she'd done with him before.

Rukia bit her lip and looked pensive for a moment, before finally looking up at him. "I dreamt about…_you_."

His eyes widened momentarily in surprise. She dreamt about him? He mentally shook himself- this wasn't about him, it was about Rukia. "What did you dream?"

Rukia considered whether or not to answer him. It wasn't like she couldn't trust him, on the contrary. She trusted Ichigo with her life, but…

After a long hesitation, she finally said, "I dreamt of that night, the night I killed Kaien-dono."

She saw Ichigo's face scrunch up momentarily. He knew the story of what happened that day, partly from other people, Rukia suspected Renji and Captain Ukitake, and partly from her own account. It wasn't something she liked to talk about, but Ichigo knew the story pretty well. From his reactions however, she could deduce that he thought, like most people told her looking to comfort her at first, that it wasn't her fault.

Of course, it was. And she knew that perfectly well.

"Wait," Ichigo suddenly spoke up. "I thought you said you'd dreamt about me…?"

Rukia nodded, her chest constricting slightly as she remembered the image of his dying face… "I did." she confirmed. "In the dream, that night, instead of impaling Kaien-dono, I…it was…" she struggled to get it out. "It was you." she managed at last, meeting his eyes.

"Oh." Ichigo said smartly. She almost laughed as she saw him visibly struggle to find the right words to say. "So that's what woke you up screaming in the middle of the night?" he surprised her by saying in a casual, almost unimportant manner. "Che. I thought it was something important."

At this, she glared and proceded to punch his arm.

"Ow!" he complained.

"You idiot!" was her response.

Ichigo rubbed his arm. "Hey, I was just saying." he said defensively. "Everyone dreams with about the death of someone close to them dying at some point in their lives." He shrugged. "Luckily most people get to wake up and find out it was just a nightmare." A shadow passed over his features as he muttered the last part.

Rukia realized she probably wasn't the only one having bad dreams these stormy nights. "…Ichigo." she knew anything she said would be pretty much useless. She knew better than anyone that no words could soothe the pain of missing a loved one. So she settled for squirming around in the couch until she closed the distance between herself and Ichigo, so that now she was basically leaning against him.

He looked mildly surprised and tensed by her action, neither of them used to such close contact, but then just relaxed and let himself be comforted. Rukia, though she'd done it with the intention of helping him, was actually feeling a lot better too. Actually being able to feel him, feel his warmth and his familiar scent, his body so close, it made the sharp images of her dream become more vague, more hazy, making his living, scowling self the reality.

As they were both comforted silently by their mutual presence and closeness, the sound of the storm disappeared into the background and they settled into a comfortable sleep.

_Early the next morning…._

Isshin walked on his tip toes all the way up to the front door of his house, hardly able to wait and see the look of joy on his favorite son's face as he gave him the news that he and the twins had decided that they couldn't enjoy a vacation without him, so they'd come back early for him!

Finally making it to the door and opening the lock, he threw the door open loudly exclaiming, "SURPRISE! ICHIGO, MY SON, I'VE COME BACK TO-"

His boisterous proclamation was caught off by the sight that greeted him in the living room.

"Dad-"

"SSHHH!" he flashed to his precious daughter Yuzu's side and put a silencing hand over her mouth, cutting her off mid-speech.

The twins looked at him oddly but he ignored them, tiptoeing to the living room.

He crouched down behind the couch, in full-on spy mode, and sneakily rose up to glance at the two, peacefully sleeping figures on it.

A proud smile stretched from ear to ear on his face and his eyes became teary. Ichigo lay sprawled across the couch, mouth hanging slightly open, his arms wrapped loosely around the figure curled up practically on top of him; none other than his third daughter- Rukia-chan!

A moment later the twins walked casually up behind him and looked at the sight. Yuzu gasped.

"Well, well, well." Karin whistled.

Ichigo stirred ever so slightly, tightening his grip on Rukia-chan.

Isshin couldn't help himself anymore. "MY SON HAS FINALLY BECOME A MAN!" he burst into dramatic tears, his exclamation loud enough to wake the sound-asleep Ichigo and Rukia. They jumped up, barely able to even redden at the position they'd been caught in as Isshin went on with a secretive thumbs-up directed to his son. "WELL DONE, MY SON!" Then he said in a supposed-to-be-whisper, "Now I see why you didn't want to go on vacation with us; you had your hands full with other manly business!"

Ichigo turned five shades redder than a tomato and shoved his elbow into Isshin's ribs. "SHUT UP, DAD!" he yelled, jumping from the couch to knock down Isshin. "AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GONE FOR THE WEEK!"

"I'm-sowy if-I-interruwpted-yoowr-plans," Isshin struggled to say as Ichigo slammed his face into the floor with his foot repeatedly.

Beside their loud commotion, the girls had their own conversation.

"So, Rukia, I didn't think my brother had it in him." Karin smirked, making Rukia's face glow like a stoplight.

Yuzu smiled brightly. "So does this mean now you're really our sister?"

"Oh my beloved third daughter!"

"SHUT UP OLD MAN!"

XxXxXx

Well, this took a while, but yes Chapter two now makes it official that this is my new collection of Ichiruki oneshots, hurray! So send any suggestions or requests this way, u can review or PM, and of course, let me now what you think! =) Until next time!


	3. Uryu

_**Uryu Ishida**_

The six friends stood on the balcony at the entrance to one of the multiple beach cottages standing in rows just a few steps away from the sparkling blue beach. It was an ordinary-looking wooden cottage with plenty of windows to allow the sea breeze to pass easily, and a small recreational area out front with two or three beach chairs and a hammock on the front porch. Wind chimes hung from the ceiling at this area, its sounds adding to the summer beach atmosphere.

Ichigo, Rukia and Renji stood on the front steps leading up to the balcony and entrance to cabin 15. They were each holding large amounts of food and refreshments which, for _some _reason, just couldn't wait in the car while they got settled in the cottage. Well, actually, only Ichigo and Renji were carrying these apparently indispensable items; Rukia just stood on a step between the two of them, arms crossed impatiently, the only thing she carried being a small red backpack that couldn't weight more than a teddy bear.

"Would you hurry the hell up over there?" Ichigo called, irritation clear in his voice and expression.

Ishida, who was hunched over at the front door fumbling with the key to it, with Inoue standing next to him giving quick instructions, responded: "Don't rush me, Kurosaki! I'm almost done!"

"Well finish already, my arms are falling out of their sockets!"

"I said I'm almost done!"

Ichigo was about to shout something back when Rukia cut in. "Stop complaining already, Ichigo."

"Wha-? Easy for _you _to say! You're not being used as a pack mule!" he glared back at her.

"Oh don't be such a crybaby, you're hardly carrying anything heavy."

"Well why don't you carry this crap? Half of it is here cause you wanted it anyway!"

"That wouldn't be very chivalrous of you, now would it? Making a lady carry all that stuff?" Rukia shot back, using her annoying innocent schoolgirl voice. A vein throbbed on Ichigo's forehead.

"Got it!" Ishida announced, throwing the creaking door open before Ichigo could attempt to strangle anyone.

The five friends all filed inside- wait, five?

"Hey, where's Chad?" Ichigo asked, suddenly noticing his friend's disappearance after letting out a long sigh of relief from setting down all the refreshments he was carrying on the kitchen counter.

Inoue answered him. "He's back at the car getting all our packs, Kurosaki-kun." she said, pointing with her thumb behind her in the direction of the parking.

"_All _our packs?" he asked, incredulously.

Inoue nodded. Renji came up behind him and spoke. "The guy insisted."

Ichigo deadpanned at his friend. "Yeah, more like you coaxed him into it." he muttered under his breath just loud enough to be heard.

Renji pretended not to hear anything and kept a light grin on his face as he looked away and called, "Oi, Rukia, did you see the back porch yet?" and with that, trailed away.

The set up of the cottage was comfortable and relaxed. Once you came through the front door, to the right you had the modest-sized kitchen, which included a microwave and mini stove, thank God. And to the left there was a small living room area, with a cream colored couch and matching loveseat, a low dark wood table over a blue rug in the middle, and an ancient looking TV set and stereo. Connected to the living room, was a rectangular table with six chairs set-the dining room. If you went straight after coming through the front door, there was a short hallway with two bedrooms on one side, and a third on the other.

Ichigo was about to go take a look at the rooms when he heard someone trying to come through the front door. It was Chad. Now _he _looked like a pack mule.

"Woah, Chad! Let me help with that!" Ichigo hurried over to take some of the heavy luggage off the giant's arms and allow him to cross the doorway.

"Thanks, Ichigo." Chad said, his expression neutral as ever.

Ichigo wondered how the man could keep such a cool temper at all times. It was truly a mystery to him.

Just then the door at the far end of the hallway, past all the bedrooms, opened up and Renji and Rukia walked in. Both of them were wearing more relaxed clothes than they usually did in honor of the vacation. Renji had on a pair of dark blue slacks and a black t-shirt on, while Rukia wore a light yellow strapless beach dress that allowed Ichigo to see the violet straps tied behind her neck of the swimsuit she wore underneath.

"Ichigo," Rukia said when she saw him, "you have to go see the back porch, you can see the beach from there!"

"Well yeah, this _is _a beach cottage. Being near the beach is kinda the point, Midget."

Rukia glared but before she could retort Renji asked, "Hey where are Inoue and Ishida?"

Chad, Rukia and Ichigo all looked around but saw no one. Where could they have gone in such a short time?

"Where'd they disappear to? Did anyone even see them leave?" Ichigo asked, looking to his friends. All three of them shook their heads simultaneously.

Renji scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Then I guess we should just sort the rooms now…"

They all agreed.

Renji and Chad disappeared into the sole room on the right of the hallway, and Ichigo went to the one on the left at the end. He peered inside.

"Not too bad." a voice behind him startled him. "Its bigger than your stuffy room anyway."

"Agh!" Ichigo jumped, looking down at the short girl beside him. "Dammit Rukia, don't sneak up on me like that!"

The girl completely ignored him and pushed her way past him and into the room. She had her arms crossed over her chest and a grin on her face as she inspected the room.

It was empty and plain except for the small nightstand in the corner, a lamp sitting on top, and a bunk bed pressed against the left wall. "I get the top bunk!" Rukia announced.

"Yeah… Hey wait!" Ichigo called after her as she happily threw her red backpack off her shoulders and on top of the bed, marking territory. Ichigo grabbed a handful of the back of her dress, holding her back just before she could start climbing up to the bed. "I want this room! I was here first!" he demanded.

"So?" Rukia quirked an eyebrow, slapping his hand away and climbing to the top of the bed before he could stop her again. She squirmed unto bed and sat cross-legged, looking down at him. "There's more than enough room for you too. And I don't even have to stay in the closet." she mused.

That's when it dawned on Ichigo that Rukia planned to share a room with him. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh…Rukia," he coughed. "Erm, weren't you staying with Inoue?" he decided to say.

Rukia looked at him with wide violet eyes like she didn't know what he was talking about. "Inoue?" she repeated, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "I thought she'd stay with Ishida, they seemed to be getting pretty close lately…Why, did she tell you something?"

"No, it's just…" Ichigo looked away uncomfortably. " Girls and guys aren't really supposed to sleep in the same bedroom…"

"Why not? I read humans do it all the time these days-" she went on unfazed. Ichigo again wondered what kind of books she was reading and how she got them. He suspected Urahara…he'd have to ask later. Back to the point…

"Some people do it, but if we do, they're gonna get the wrong idea you know…About _us_…" he trailed off, wishing to whatever God there was out there that she'd save him the embarrassment of having to explain further.

"I sleep in your room all the time, it's no big deal." she said, rolling her eyes.

"_Rukia!_" he exclaimed suddenly, raising his voice and using a sharp tone unintentionally. "We _can't _share a room!"

It was a second too late when he realized what he'd said and the way he'd said it. "Rukia, I didn't mean for it to sound that-"

"Save it." she said, cutting him off. Her light manner and carefree attitude were both gone now. "I get it. I f you're that worried about what people think, you should have said so." Then she seized her backpack and jumped down from the bed, the way she did it reminding him of the way she jumped down from her bed in his closet. She looked straight past him and stormed off out of the room.

"Rukia!" he called, but was too late. He was left standing dumbfounded in the middle of the empty room.

Ichigo didn't move. He wasn't sure if he should go after her and try to apologize or just let her steam. _But still! _Ichigo reasoned inwardly. _She has to understand! There are enough rumors going around about us already, if it got out that we shared a room…! Of course, _he added as an afterthought. _We do share a room back home…But that's different. She had to stay there to hide from my family, we didn't have a choice! _

A nagging voice inside him reminded him that his family had already met her and given her a bed in the twins' room, but she still snuck back into his closet when she could.

_Anyway that's still not the same. She slept in a closet. Here, she'd be sleeping in the bunk just above me. I could just stand up and see her sleeping…Or she could see me…That's way more personal!_

The voice spoke to him again. Rukia didn't always remember to close the closet door the whole way. Sometimes there was a little wedge left open and he could see her sleeping form, bathed in the moonlight…He sometimes would sneak a glance, if he couldn't sleep or was having nightmares or just felt bad for some reason, he would look over at her and reassure himself with her presence.

_Argh! Shut up! _He ordered the pesky voice. He could almost swear he heard laughter inside his head.

"…Kurosaki-kun,"

A familiar voice broke him out of his train of thoughts.

"Ah, Inoue. Where'd you and Ishida disappear to earlier?" he asked, wondering if he'd looked like an idiot standing alone arguing with a voice in his head.

"Oh, umm…" he thought he saw Inoue's cheeks redden as she looked down awkwardly before answering his question. "Nowhere! Just, umm, buying some snacks for the beach!" She smiled brightly. Ichigo brushed it off. The coloring of her face was probably just a trick of the light…

"Anyway, Kurosaki-kun," she said, changing the subject. "We were looking for you, we're all going down to the beach now,"

He noticed Inoue was wearing a white pair of shorts and a turquoise tank top, pink straps of bikini showing through.

"Are you coming with us?"

"Uh, yeah." he said, trying to push the incident with Rukia to the back of his mind. "Go ahead, I'll meet you guys there." he said.

She nodded and went ahead. Ichigo went to get his suitcase with the clothes for the weekend where he and Chad had left them near the front door. Of all the suitcases, only his was left there, everyone else having already retreated theirs. He took him and went to the room he'd been in, figuring Rukia had taken the other one and Renji had probably picked the other one -and he may have loved Renji like a brother, but no way in hell was he sharing a room with that redheaded pineapple-. So he went back there, changed into his red swimming trunks and left to meet up with the others.

From the cottage, it was only a short walk to the beach, so he followed the already marked path their and made it out to the white sands and blue waters. It was just past noon and hundreds of people in colorful bathing suits with bright umbrellas, radios and blankets decorated the sand. Kids with toy buckets and paddles made crumbling sandcastles, and teenagers played with multicolored plastic beach balls. Ichigo groaned, it wouldn't be easy to find his friends here.

It took him almost ten whole minutes of walking up and down along the edge of the beach, before he heard the enthusiastic call of "Kurosaki-kun!"

He whirled around and saw Inoue wearing her two part swimming suit, waving at him from a few feet away. He made his way over to her. A red and white umbrella was pinned into the sand where the group was, and a large white blanket was set, kept on the ground under the weight of a beach chair on each end. Renji sat in one of them, having the back inclined at an angle that allowed him to soak up as much sun as possible. He was wearing black swimming trunks and no shirt, exposing his tattoo-covered body.

"Oi, Renji, working on a tan to try to attract some ladies?" Ichigo smirked, enjoying teasing him. "You're gonna need a lot more than that, you know." Renji looked at him from behind his dark sunglasses, and Ichigo suspected he was glaring. He snickered and turned to see Ishida in the other chair. He had blue swimming trunks and a button-up white shirt, with all the buttons undone. He drank from a soda can before looking at Ichigo.

"So you decided to join us, Kurosaki?" he said, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, what of it?" Ichigo replied, ready for the bickering to start.

Inoue spoke in before it could. "I'm glad you came, Kurosaki-kun! Dou you want a snack?" she asked, holding up a potato chip with some sort of…bean paste on it…

"Err, no thanks, Inoue."

He looked back and saw Chad and Rukia sitting under the umbrella. Chad, staring ahead silently; Rukia, fumbling uselessly with a radio, trying to figure it out probably. Ichigo let out a sigh and made his way over to her. He leaned down and took the radio from her hands, receiving an angry "Hey!" in response from her.

He ignored her and fidgeted with the radio's buttons, quickly finding the station Rukia had shown preference to before. "There." he said, handing her the radio with a satisfied smirk.

Rukia snatched the radio away and as soon as she listened to the station, Ichigo expected her to be delighted as she usually was when he figured out some human contraption for her. Instead, she set it down sullenly, and when she realized it was the station she liked, her face set into a scowl.

So Ichigo wasn't getting off the hook for what he said earlier that easy. He stood before her and looked at her, expecting her to scoot over to allow space for him under the umbrella (Chad took up the entire other side), but she didn't move an inch. With an irritated sigh, Ichigo settled down on the sand beside her.

Now, it wasn't unusual for him and Rukia to just sit side by side in silence. But that was comfortable silence. This was way different. Ichigo could almost feel the electric charge in the air between them as Rukia looked strictly away from him. He kept glancing over at her, trying to strike up a conversation with lame comments like, "It's a nice weather today, isn't it?"; "Hey, check out that kid's sandcastle."; "The water looks really clean, huh?"; "Hey, look! That dog is taking a dump in the little girl's bucket!"

He expected a smack and an insult telling him how gross he was for that last one; instead, Rukia simple stood up, brushing her backside from sand, and muttered "I'm going for a swim." With that, she walked away on to the water.

Ichigo groaned. "Man, you say _one_ little thing…" he muttered.

After two full seconds of sitting there next to Chad with a blank expression, he finally said, "I'm headed for the water."

He got up and pulled his t-shirt over his head, then went out onto the shore, were he could just see Rukia's black head of wet hair, along with Inoue's bright mass of orange hair. The girls swam around idly, unaware that Ichigo was swimming towards them.

Inoue was the first to notice him. Or maybe she was just the first to acknowledge him. He suspected the latter.

She didn't greet him cheerily as she usually did. She just looked suddenly a little awkward. "Umm, hi Kurosaki-kun." she said, facing him in the water, Rukia stayed with her back to him.

"Hey, Inoue. Yo, Rukia." he said, hoping to get a reaction. She just peeked over her shoulder and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. That's it.

"Uh, hey!" Inoue suddenly perked up. "I think I see Ur-Err- Ishida-kun calling me." She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "COMING ISHIDA-KUN!"

Ichigo looked and could barely make out Ishida's confused expression as Inoue made her way out of the water and towards him.

"…So…" he started once he and Rukia were by themselves. Instead of answering, the girl had the nerve to just take a deep breath and hold it, then went underwater.

"What the…? Oh come on, Rukia this is ridiculous!" he groaned and took a deep breath before plunging under.

The water was warm thanks to the hot sun, and was perfectly calm, only a few small waves disrupting the peaceful plate of seawater. Perfect for swimming.

Ichigo opened his eyes, barely bothered by the salty water, and looked for the white and black smudge that had to be Rukia. His vision was blurry, but this water was so clear, it didn't take him long to spot the little midget.

He swum after her. Unfortunately for her, he was a damn good swimmer. So he caught up easily. Ichigo reached out and grabbed her ankle. She thrashed against his hold, but Ichigo overwhelmed her and pulled her to him.

Bubbles swirled out of her mouth as she attempted to yell at him underwater. Unfortunately for Rukia, it was a difficult task to speak underwater and not swallow most of your words. Literally.

Her eyes bugged out as she choked. Ichigo quickly pulled himself out of the water and dragged Rukia along. She came out coughing and sputtering salt water.

"You okay?" he asked, reaching out a hand to her. She smacked it away.

Regaining her breath, she said in a rough voice, "Leave me alone, Ichigo."

"Hey, wait a minute Rukia!" he took hold of her wrist before she could dive under and swim away. "You're not still mad about earlier, are you?"

She tensed all over as he said that. When she looked up at him, her violet eyes, gleaming in the sunlight glared a mental hole into his head. Then she instantly morphed and smiled brightly, a completely fakely innocent smile. It scared him more than the glare. "Don't worry about it, Kurosaki-kun." she said in her sickly sweet voice. It made him cringe. "You were right, the two of us sharing a room would set the wrong idea about our relationship! What would people think?" she said with fake horror.

"…Rukia-" before he could say anything she had gone back underwater. He didn't follow her this time. He just let himself sink down in a flurry of bubbles.

x-X-x-X-x

_One hour later_

It had been an hour.

One hour.

Sixty minutes.

Thirty-six hundred seconds.

Alright, what the hell was wrong with him that he was counting seconds now? Actually, he knew what was wrong. The _stubborn_, _annoying_, _proud_ and _irritating _midget STILL hadn't spoken a word to him!

"You really screwed up, didn't you, Kurosaki?" Ishida said, coming up behind Ichigo, where he sat miserable scowling in the sand. He pretended to be looking at the beach, but was really watching the faraway, constantly submerging figures of Rukia and Renji.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ishida." he growled back. "Now go away. You're blocking my sun."

He could almost hear Ishida smirk. The bastard.

The skinny man then sat down on the sand beside Ichigo, who didn't even bother to take his eyes off the two playfully splashing figures in the water to look at him as he said, "I don't remember asking for your company."

"And I don't remember the last time I offered it to you, but I know it won't be happening again any time soon." he responded, fixing his glasses again. "So, what did you do?"

"I already told you, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Kuchiki-san hasn't spoken a word to you since we came to the beach. I figured something happened."

"Che. You guessed wrong. We're not glued to each other you know. Just cause we don't talk for an hour…" he tried to sound indifferent for Ishida's sake.

Ishida snickered. "That's not what tipped me off."

"Oh yeah? Then what _did?" _he asked, finally ripping his eyes off Rukia and directing his irritation towards Ishida.

"You." he said simply.

"Eh? _What are you talking about?"_

"Kurosaki you're pathetic. It's obvious when you and Kuchiki-san have been in a fight. You act like a helpless lost pup."

Ichigo looked indignantly. "I _do not!_"

"Angry and confused." Ishida said, apparently satisfied with his reaction. "There's no use denying it."

Ichigo opened his mouth, but somewhere deep down he knew Ishida was right. Damn it. He let out a sharp breath. "It was a stupid argument."

Ishida nodded to show that he was listening.

"She wanted to share a room and I told her no, cause it would look bad. But she didn't get it, then she took it all personal and got all angry and she's been ignoring me and she went off with Renji and now I'm telling you all this I don't know why!" he finished, huffing angrily.

Ishida nodded. It was probably supposed to be an understanding nod, but from him it seemed more like an '_I knew it. I'm so friggin smart.'_ "Sounds like you, Kurosaki."

Then again, that probably was how he meant it.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." said Ishida, though he was smiling like he was enjoying some private joke. "Listen Kurosaki, this may not be my area of expertise, but why don't you go talk to Kuchiki-san? You're a pretty pathetic sight."

Ichigo fumed at the insult but tried to otherwise look past it. "I already tried that. She won't listen. She's really pissed off."

"Hmm. It would seem you really hit a soft spot." Ishida said, all pensive now.

"Sheesh. Apparently."

"At any rate, I would try to make up with her as soon as possible." Ishida went on. "For all our sakes."

"Eh?"

"Yeah well, believe it or not, you're actually even _more_ insufferable when you're in a fight with her." Ishida said. "You're much more bearable with her around."

"You're not making any sense, Ishida."

Ishida started to stand up. "Well, you'll understand someday, Kurosaki." he began to walk back to were Inoue and Chad sat under the umbrella. "Good luck." he said, and he was gone, leaving Ichigo sulking alone in the sand.

He glared as he saw Renji easily lift up Rukia in his arms and throw her back in the water. A moment later she sprung up behind him and jumped him, wrestling him and pushing on his head until he was underwater.

If looks could kill, Renji would be a dead man right now.

x-X-x-X-x

Rukia threw a splash of salt water in her childhood friend's face one last time as they got out of the water. The sun was already low in the sky by then, the pink and orange colors beginning to paint the sky. Their fingers were wrinkly from all the time in the water.

Together, the two of them trudged through the sand to the red and white umbrella that marked where the others were. Rukia went, ready to switch into full ignore mode, and tried not to feel a wave of disappointment when she looked around and didn't see the head of orange hair.

"Hey, where'd Ichigo go?" Renji asked for her.

"He went back to the cottage." Chad said.

"Wuss." Renji scoffed. "He probably got tired already."

The others kept up a conversation, but Rukia hardly listened to it. She grabbed a green towel and dried herself up.

"Actually guys, I think I'm heading back early too."

Four pairs of eyes looked at her.

"But I thought we were going to watch the sunset on the beach together!" Inoue protested.

"Yeah, Rukia, come on." Renji added.

Rukia was tempted to stay, but she knew she wouldn't really enjoy herself. So she apologized for leaving early, slipped into her yellow strapless and pink flip flops, threw the towel over her shoulder and walked away unto the path that led to the rows of cottages.

She found number Fifteen in a couple of minutes and let herself in, glad that they'd decided not to lock it. The inside was looking pretty uninhabited. She wondered if Ichigo really came back here. She figured he was probably in the bathroom.

Throwing the used towel on the back of a high chair at the kitchen, then followed the hallway straight to the back porch. Once outside, she froze in her steps and nearly went back inside.

But the sound of the door opening had already alerted the orange-head to her presence. He turned around and locked his eyes with hers. Rukia found that she was no longer able to look away from his brown orbs.

"Rukia,"

"Ichigo,"

They both spoke at the same time.

"Look," they said together again.

"Let me go first." Rukia said.

"No, I've got something to tell you."

"Well you can say it after me."

"No, I'm telling you know!"

"I was going to tell you first!"

"I was here first so I get to speak first! Got it, midget?"

"No way! Idiot!"

"Stupid!"

"Carrot-top!"

They glared fiercely at each other, until Rukia finally backed off. "Ichigo, look. I'm sorry. I overreacted."

Ichigo looked dumbfounded. She was apologizing to _him_?

Rukia was about to go back inside when Ichigo said, "No, wait," she looked up at him. He let out a sigh and scratched the back of his neck. "_I _overreacted. I shouldn't care what people think. We're just sharing a bedroom right?"

"…Right." she agreed, though she wasn't sure if that was…regret coloring her voice? She decided to ignore it.

There was a moment of silence, and Ichigo broke it by saying, "Hey, you were right, I can see the beach from here."

Rukia felt herself smile at his attempt of conversation, remembering all his previous attempts today.

In that moment she remembered, Ichigo might not be the best person expressing himself, and he may speak without thinking, but that's what made him Ichigo. Hot-headed, brash, stupid and caring.

She scolded herself for having forgotten that and being hurt by something so silly.

Ichigo leaned against the railing of the back porch. Rukia joined him. The two of them stared at the breathtaking scenery; the golden sun setting behind the water on the horizon. Over here, away from the crowd at the beach, it felt so perfectly peaceful.

"Rukia…"

She looked up, surprised to hear him.

Ichigo looked at her for a long moment, then finally said. "I don't mind sharing a room with you."

Rukia very nearly laughed. She had to bite her lip to keep herself from bursting out.

Stupid, caring, idiot.

"What?" he asked, seeing that she was about to laugh. He looked almost embarrassed. His face reddened.

"Nothing. Just…" she trailed off, letting her eyes look back at the sunset. "Thanks, Ichigo."

"Huh? For what?"

"The sunset in this world is really pretty."

"Yeah…Thanks for what?"

"This is going to be a fun weekend."

"Sure, now thanks for what?"

Rukia let herself laugh lightly. Ichigo scowled at her. Then, before common sense could get a hold of her, Rukia stood on the tips of her toes, stretching upwards and planted a kiss on Ichigo's cheek.

"I'm going to take a bath now. See you later, Ichigo."

She left him staring after her with a baffled expression and thoroughly red cheeks, an involuntary smile curling her lips.


End file.
